A 74-year-old man from Lane County was arrested and booked into Columbia County Jail last Saturday, Sept. 23, after Oregon State Police troopers say he admitted to shoplifting cold sore medicine and trying to return it to regional Bi-Mart stores.

Terrence Liddell was reportedly stopped back in July for a traffic violation by OSP. Further investigation indicated Liddell likely shoplifted and tried to return large quantities of Abreva topical medication for cash at area Bi-Mart stores in Oregon and Washington.

Investigators collected evidence including documents and surveillance video from Bi-Mart stores, and a search warrant was issued for the suspect's computer, an OSP news release stated.

"The evidence showed the suspect made at least 33 returns of stolen Abreva to Oregon Bi-Mart stores, to the value approximately $4,281.00," the release states.

Liddell was later interviewed by investigators at his home in Lane County, where he admitted shoplifting Abreva and returning the over-the-counter medicine. He even showed police a printer and stolen Bi-Mart receipt paper he used to produce counterfeit receipts to process the returns.

The man was arrested and lodged on 33 counts of Theft I, Forgery I and Possession of a Forged Instrument.

Suspect has criminal history

Court records indicate Liddell lives in Springfield and was convicted of stalking a woman in 2014.

A letter submitted to the Lane County Circuit Court by the stalking victim indicates Liddell contacted her on a dating website, and continued to seek friendship with her after she declined to date him. She says she confronted him about previous sexual abuse charges on his record she found online, but he convinced her he was a victim of a shoddy justice system and was forced to admit to crimes he didn't commit when he was much younger.

After giving him a chance and promising only friendship, the woman says Liddell got "too comfortable" talking about previous sexual conquests with her, and she again asked him to stop contacting her.

Eventually, she says, he became persistent and started tracking her whereabouts and showing up uninvited at public places where she was. After she stopped paying a phone bill to shut off service and prevent him from calling or sending messages, she said he went to a Verizon bill pay kiosk and put $300 toward her phone bill to turn her service back

on, without her knowledge.

She eventually called the police when she and her boyfriend found Liddell's pickup truck parked in front of her home after he had just been lurking in a dance club the two were at.

"I hope and pray you closely monitor or lock Terry up in a mental institution so he can get the help I told him he needed so long ago," the woman's letter to the court states, adding she fears for her safety and privacy every day because of the stalking.